I've got my plane tickets in place, but I haven't sorted out accomodations and overland travel yet. How does the following sound as a plan?

18 Nov - arrive LIM late evening

19 - arround Lima, possibly boat tour from Callao to Islas Palominos or just checking out a museum or two

20 - fly to Cuzco in a.m., afternoon around central Cuzco (take it easy to deal with altitude)

21 - some sort of Sacred Valley tour or more local touring in Cuzco

22 - day trip to Pisac (market day, community visit)

23 - to Macchu Picchu by train, overnight M.P. area (either mega$ for Sanctuary Lodge or cheap place in Aguas Calientes)

24 - a.m. revisit to Macchu Picchu, p.m. train back to Cuzco

25 - bus to Nazca, possibly sand-boarding in afternoon

26 - flight over Nazca lines, afternoon in Nazca town (museum, etc.)

27 - bus to Paracas or Ica or Pisco, afternoon local touring (maybe Paracas reserve)

28 - boat trip to Islas Balleastas in a.m., bus to Lima in p.m.

29 - Lima

Flight back is 12:30 a.m. on the 30th

Does this seem like a reasonable plan for a first time visit to Peru? As much as I'd love to do some other things (Trujillo / Chan Chan, Amazon/jungle trip) there just isn't time for those. Macchu Picchu, Nazca lines, and (hopefully) Humboldt penguins are my highest priorities. I'm also pretty into textiles and, as a knitter, intend to bring back some alpaca yarn, but I'm not really much of a shopper overall.

 

Rethinking things a bit, it seems to make more sense to go directly from the Cuzco airport to Ollantaytambo for a couple of nights. It's not as high altitude and looks to have some interesting possibilities for crafts-related tourism (e.g. a basketmaking class).

That would then be:

20 Nov - fly to Cuzco, transfer to Ollantaytambo, stay there 2 nights
22 Nov - train to Aguas Calientes/ Machu Picchu
23 Nov - train to Cuzco
24 Nov - excursion to Pisac
25 Nov - around Cuzco, night bus to Nazca (which is considerably longer ride than I had originally thought - looks like about 15 hours)

But the Peru Rail web site says they allow just one bag of no more than 11 pounds. I travel light, but that is a bit extreme. (They also seem to only let you do this with 2 one way tickets, with no multi-stop option.) Do they enforce this? Can one get away with more on the Backpacker trains vs. Vistadome? I'd prefer Vistadome for the views.

Any opinions on whether the Sanctuary Lodge is worth the sky-high price? Also, anybody know anything about the local spectacled bear rehabilitation projects, e.g whether one can actually see any bears at them?

 

Personally, I would do Pisac on Sunday. The Sunday market is definitely worth it. I overnighted there, and what you will see during on a non-Sunday pales by comparison.

There are some very nice hotels in Aguas Caliente at a fraction of the price of the Sanctuary Lodge, and it is only a short (maybe 30 minute) bus ride up the mountain.

Regarding the train.....There was nobody checking luggage. It is very similar to a European train in that regard. I would not worry about it. I thought the "Vista" train was somewhat of a marketing gimmick. The views are nice, but it's not like your training thru the Swiss Alps. You can see just fine from the Backpacker train. Sit on the left side of the train on the way to Aguas Caliente, and the right side on the way back for your best views.

 

Resurrecting an old thread to ask the same question: What do you think of this Peru itinerary for June?

The basic idea is to see both Machu Picchu/Sacred Valley and the Amazon rainforest in a week. We've got our flights in and out of LIM booked, and now we're looking to lock down the internal Peruvian flights as well as hotel reservations.

Any thoughts as to the best place to stay for a few days in the rainforest? From Tripadvisor, the Tambo Jungle Lodge looks promising, as does the Corto Maltes Amazonia Posada, but I'm open to other options.

Thanks!

Itinerary:

SATURDAY
-- Arrive Lima late (11:55).
-- Overnight Lima, perhaps at airport

SUNDAY
-- Travel LIM-CUZ on early flight.
-- Spend afternoon/evening in Cusco.
-- Overnight TBD (Cusco? Ollantaytambo? Other?)

MONDAY
-- Sacred Valley
-- Overnight TBD (Cusco? Ollantaytambo? Other?)

TUESDAY
-- Machu Picchu
-- Overnight TBD (Cusco? Ollantaytambo? Other?)

WEDNESDAY
-- Travel CUZ-PEM on early flight.
-- See Puerto Maldonado (if time permits)
-- Travel to jungle lodge.
-- Overnight jungle lodge.

THURSDAY
-- First day in jungle.
-- Overnight jungle lodge.

FRIDAY
-- Second day in jungle.
-- Overnight jungle lodge.

SATURDAY
-- Travel from jungle to PEM for flight.
-- Travel PEM-CUZ-LIM on midday flight.
-- Spend afternoon in Lima.
-- Depart Lima on 11:55 p.m. flight.

 

You realize that is rather rushed, but probably unavoidable.

The main thing I'd suggest is that you go right from CUZ to the Sacred Valley on Sunday so you could take in the Pisac market. You could overnight in Ollantaytambo, and go to Machu Picchu on Monday, allowing you to spend Tuesday seeing Cuzco.